Excuse me?

What?

You can’t just skip over it all?

It’s my blog – I can do whatever I want with it.

Sure you can. But you won’t.

Fine. You’re right – here’s the recap of what’s been going on in my life during the time that I’ve been absent from this blog.

You really think you’re going to be able to update us on over 14 months in a single post?

No, but I’ve got to start somewhere so let’s go back to my last job, way back in 2006…

I had always needed to do design as part of my job, little stuff from designing advertisement for the Yellow Page classifieds or product logos, brochures, flyers, booklets, web sites, web pages and stuff like that.  I really enjoyed those aspects of the job. It was only a part of what I did, but design was what I liked most.  A time came when BCG Systems decided that they wanted to outsource all aspects of their marketing so that put me in the position of having to find a new job.

Brockman, Coats, Gedelian & Co. and BCG Systems was one of the best places I’ve worked. It is a company that values their employees – for real. It was a phenomenal place to work, from good benefits to little perks like a fridge stocked with pop and lunches for the entire company to welcome new hires.  BCG&Co. knew how to treat employees – even when they were letting them go. I was told that Systems was going to outsource and they gave me 8 weeks to find something new.  I could stay, keep working, earning a paycheck while I searched for something new. 6 weeks later I had found something new.

I started at Coltene Whaledent in March of 2006 and getting this job provided evidence that I actually could design. See, my degree is in Marketing & Sales Management and all my positions at least to that point had been marketing related.  So stepping into a position with the title of Graphic Designer was a big thing for me.  Don’t get me wrong, I knew I had the skill set to design.  I had a portfolio of well executed, well designed pieces. But seeing the words Graphic Designer after my name meant something to me. I spent the next two years honing my skills, learning how to function in a design team.  I learned a lot from my colleagues. Our skill sets complimented each other and we produced some great stuff.  I had the opportunity to learn video production skills, further develop my ability to design pieces that communicated well and challenged myself to keep getting better at what I did.

Having come from BCG Systems, a place where we had to stay on top of the latest innovations, to Coltene Whaledent , where I saw that the company was quite a bit behind the times in terms how we used technology. Being in graphics I was a bit sheltered from having to deal with some of the older technology. We were on Mac’s – they weren’t the newest machines but they worked. About a year into being there our team decided it was time to try and push for new machines.  We made a good argument and got our upgrades. But that was just in the Graphics Department. Around 2 1/2 years ago our CEO retired. He had asked me at one point to put together a brief set of technology recommendations about things we should consider doing to become a bit more agile. Unfortunately I was never able to present it to him in person before he left.

After his retirement I met with the new president & general manager of our location and shared some of my thoughts on the state of our company.  I told him about my brief report and he asked to see it.  I spent a couple days updating some things and gave it to him.  A few days later he asked me if I’d like to be a part of helping make my recommendations a reality. I considered it and knew that it would be quite a task for me, a departure from my duties in graphic design.

I was told that I’d have the opportunity to learn a new skill set, that I would be given time to develop. It sounded like a risk worth taking.  I had enjoyed design and still very much do, but within the context of Coltene Whaledent I had grown bored.  Sure every once in a while we had some exciting projects but this – helping the company do some catch up – sounded like a great idea.  And at first it was.  We covered a lot of ground and in the process, spent a lot of money. Money, that – in my opinion, should have been spent years before.  My first task was to figure out how many old machines we’d need to replace and figure out the costs for doing that.  At the same time I was to begin exploring what it would look like to put in place a full time I.T. team and manage the much needed project of bringing Microsoft Exchange Server into our environment.  This required reviewing a lot of proposals, considering different licensing models and making decisions that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.  No problem.

I called the people I knew and trusted at BCG Systems.  They helped immensely and in a short amount of time we had made some significant progress.  We had a fully staffed I.T. team – I fit into it somehow.  But then February 19th happened.

I was let go. Downsized.

I worked hard for the last 18 months helping to establish a technology infrastructure, processes and procedures, a team and now I was told that I was no longer a part of it.  It hurt. It still does to some degree. But I’ve learned a lot.

I know that I can manage big projects. I know that I can learn to do things that I’ve never done before when I’m given the opportunity and I’ve learned that sometimes the risks that you take don’t always turn out the way you’d like them to.  I’ve learned that I had friends there that I miss seeing, but won’t stop caring about.  I’ve learned that even though I may not have a job there any more that I did good work and can be proud of what I was able to accomplish.

So now I’m looking for another opportunity.  I’m ready to be a designer again. I’m ready to use the skill set that I already have to do whatever is next. If that’s in marketing – great. If that’s being a designer – great. Whatever it’s supposed to be I’m ready to do it.  I’m waiting for God to show me the next entrance because it’s clear that even if I hadn’t planned it – it was time for an exit. So He’s providing me the opportunity to do something new, somewhere new.

That said, if you hear of any opportunities where I may fit a need, let me know.

Take two pictures
1. The first should be empty to create a static background to work from

This is your starter image - you could make yours scarier looking than mine if you want it to be really “ghostly”

2. The second should contain you or the person you’re going to make a “ghost”.

See that creepy looking guy with the menacing gesture - yeah, that's our ghost. Casper's got nothing on this guy.

Use a tripod – it will make the shots line up better. For the second shot set the camera to self-timer mode to give yourself time to get into the frame

Photoshop work
1. Open the two photos in Adobe Photoshop and arrange them so you can see at least part of each photo
2. With the Move Tool (V) click into the photo with your ghost subject
3. While holding shift, click & drag the photo with your ghost subject into the empty photo – this should, if you’ve taken the photos from a tripod or otherwise made the camera sit still, perfectly align the two photos so that everything in the background lines up perfectly.  To check this, change the top layer’s blending mode to difference.  If everything is lined up the only part of the image that won’t be black is the part where your ghost subject is.  Be sure to change the blending mode back to normal before you continue
4. Change the opacity of the top layer (with your ghost subject) to 50%

Top layer's opacity set to 50% - It's already kind of ghostly at this point, but we can do more.

5. At the bottom of the layers palette click the new layer icon to create a new layer.
6. Select the brush tool and be sure that you have a nice round brush and that your brush hardness is set to 0% and change the flow setting to 50%.

Brush Settings - You can see I picked a pretty big brush and set the hardness to 0%. This creates a very feathered soft brush.

7. On the new layer you just created,  paint over the ghost subject with the brush tool in a blue – in this example I picked the following:

Color Settings - you can pick whatever color you want to make your Ghost glow.

The results of brushing over the Ghost subject

H: Now change the blending mode on the blue layer to Screen and watch your ghost appear.

Layer Blending Mode Settings - choose “Scream” – I mean “Screen” from the dropdown list at the top of the layers Palette

Final Results - Not too scary but definitely ghostly.

Play with the blending modes and colors to manipulate the image in any way you like.  Try adding shadows and highlights with lighter and darker colors.

Added some filters (glowing edges, various noise, etc.) The point is have fun - experiment, its the best way to learn how things work.

So I looked through this list and I’m a bit skeptical about how the Wii will change the world, nevertheless it is an interesting look at some pretty cool gadgets and technologies.

read the article on ABCNews.com | digg story

So I was reading my entry on July 31st and clicked over to their site to see a menu item that said “Enter the Contest” so I clicked it and saw their newest contest focused on Akron suburbs. I had put together a design last year that focused on Fairlawn and the fact that when you’re driving north on Route 77 entering Fairlawn you cross under a bridge that proudly states AKRON AKRON AKRON AKRON AKRON AKRON AKRON AKRON AKRON AKRON. That’s ten times for those of you that didn’t count. Since I had submitted a design that was getting some good attention I decided to hold off on this design to avoid cannibalizing my other entry and risk losing attention for that design. So I never really finished the Fairlawn design.

When I read the contest theme I realized that the Fairlawn design would fit perfectly but then I also realized that the final date for submissions was the same day I discovered they were having a contest. So I very quickly cleaned up the design and submitted it, guessing that I wouldn’t hear anything from them since I had submitted it at the 11th hour. So I waited for a few days and didn’t see any changes to the site or announcements of a winner. Then last Thursday there it was.

You see up until that point there were only four designs and 10 comments – so I thought, well, they’ll pick one of those and call it a day – or maybe, just maybe they’ll extend the deadline and get some more entries and comments. As of this writing they haven’t changed the contest entry page to say that they’ve extended the deadline or picked a winner so I’ll assume that they’re still accepting comments. Seeing that they have added quite a few more submissions I spent a little more time and finalized my design – here it is in all its two-color glory. (As of 11:26 on 8/21 they still haven’t updated my design on rubbercityclothing.com – hopefully they’ll change it to this soon.)

I always thought it was a little weird that as you enter Fairlawn you drive under a bridge that proclaims Akron¹⁰ – with some of the ugliest san serif block lettering this side of K-mart.

So do me a favor wouldja! Comment on my design – then review the others as well. Tell your friends, tell your neighbor – heck, tell your mom to comment on the entries in this contest and support a cool Akron business. And me too. If you’ve got an idea for a cool Akron suburb shirt – submit your design to Contest@RubberCityClothing.com

UPDATE – 8/21

For those of you that haven’t seen it here is what you see as you travel Route 77 in Akron.

Getting close to Fairlawn.

What does that bridge say and why does it say it ten times?

Get up close with Akron¹⁰.